Feng Zikai’s artistic ideas learned from both Chinese and Western knowledge, rich artistic experience, sharp theoretical insight, broad aesthetic vision and compassionate religious thoughts make him a unique artistic theorist. He pursues the aesthetic ideal of “unity in diversity” and tries to find a confluence of eastern and western aesthetic thoughts, thus forming a modern art theory. His artistic theories can be reckoned as the representative of artists’ ideas in the 1930s. Closely associated with art practice, his artistic theories offer incisive views on the basic contents of modern aesthetics, such as the essence and function of beauty, the relationship between life and beauty, the aesthetic education and the aesthetic appreciation. Taking “truth, goodness and beauty” as the core of his thoughts, Feng Zikai regards them as the three indispensable elements for human beings to know the world. He believes that they are connected with each other and form an organic whole. He takes “unity in diversity” as his aesthetic standard and applies it to his own life, seeing the world with the eye of a cartoonist. He advocates aesthetic “insulation” and “affection”. According to him, to see people as scenery, which is “isolation of art”, is to get rid of all traditional habits and observe the world from a brand-new and intuitive perspective. In other words, man is irrelevant to things outside himself and they should give equal treatment to all things. To view the scenery as people, which is “artistic affection”, is to transfer your feelings into all things, so everything around you is animated. Insulation and affection is the perfection of art.
As an indispensable part in the history of Chinese art theories, Feng Zikai’s artistic theories are important assets. He thinks that as the crystallization of aesthetics and the main channel to conduct aesthetic activities, art doesn’t put its significance in simple aesthetic, but in its connection with life. He reckons that the aesthetic subject should devote himself to practice and creation actively and find, create and appreciate beauty in life and art practice. He emphasizes that the art education of the people always grasps the essence of art education, or the substance of aesthetic art education. Mr. Feng’s ideas of art education has broadened the vision of aesthetic education in modern China, enriched its connotation, and promoted its transformation from focusing on traditional ethics to modern humanity.
(Excerpted from Li Shuling’s Exploration of Feng Zikai’s Artistic and Aesthetic Thoughts)
